General News
20 February, 2026
Local GP numbers increase
Clarendon Medical Centre is drastically boosting the capacity to continue care for the community, welcoming five new full time general practitioners (GP).
For some time, patients needing an appointment at the practice have been forced to wait up to eight weeks to see a doctor.
However, the clinic will be doubling the number of practicing GPs in the coming months, with the introduction of five new doctors all committed to working full time from Monday to Friday, with the clinic opening on a Saturday morning to meet demands.
The practice’s Dr Danny de Villiers said taking full time doctors on board bucks the trend of hiring more common part time practitioners.
He has witnessed the pattern lead to patients too often seeing a different doctor, depending on who was at the clinic on the day.
“What’s important is they are here on a full time basis. In the modern way of practicing, doctors were part time with abbreviated hours. They were itinerant, they would work two or three days a week,” he said.
“They would work two weeks here, two weeks elsewhere. Whereas, what we want is a doctor to work on a full time basis from Monday to Friday, so that the patient can see the same doctor every time.”
Dr de Villiers said these circumstances allow far better continuity and familiarity of any patient’s unique needs.
“It leads to fragmented service, interruption of service. But if you can come in and you know the doctor that you see is there everyday, it is a good thing. It leads to better continuity of care, better knowledge of the patient, and to build a relationship with them,” he said.
Dr de Villiers is aware patients from Maryborough have been forced to travel to Bendigo or Ballarat to obtain care.
Yet the arrival of several GPs is expected to result in a significant increase in daily consultations.
“We are going to have upwards of 70 to 80 extra appointments per day available, which will make an enormous difference. We have had patient travelling to Ballarat, Bendigo or Creswick to get appoints, at great inconvenience to themselves,” Dr de Villiers said.
“They miss work or home life for a whole day if they have to go there and back.”
Each of the practice’s new doctors are vastly experienced GPs. Dr de Villiers said this is a fundamental part of practicing in a regional clinic, where doctors are faced with a lifetime span of conditions.
“Regional towns offer a unique experience for doctors, you have a patient population that is stable and you can come to know them intermitly over time. So, you can really become a trusted practitioner and a trusted provider of care,” he said.
“You grow with a family, you get to meet people when they are 16, and are still caring for them when they are 45. You see them get married, have children, they become well known people to us. We know where they work, we know where they stay.”
Dr de Villiers said GPs can get endless fufilment when practicing in a regional communities, as oppose to cities where they undertake their studies.
“We have a much more intimate knowledge of patients and their environment, much more so than what you would ever have in the city. We also see a far greater variety of work, we see the entire spread of medicine,” he said.
“Whatever condition is seen by a specialist service elsewhere, is seen by ourselves ... you participate with the entire journey through life, and that includes mental illness and physical illness.
“We are entering an exciting new era in our town with a fantastic new hospital, we hope that with the partnership of the new hospital, we can also expand practice, and allow the practice to develop in line with the changes in medical care. That is so evident.”
The clinic is also pleased to announce they have recently become fully bulk billed, allowing patients the ability to receive care without financial constraints.
“We made a very deliberate decision to universally bulk bill everybody. We want to remove any form of stumbling block between people gaining access to care,” Dr de Villiers said.
“When you bulk bill, you can bring a patient back to discuss their results without the concern a patient may have without additional cost.
“Cost should not enter the picture in any manner, it should all just be about the care they need, and must be the care they get, and free and equitable access to that care.”
